GuReview - Harry Potter Escape

Nesconset, US

by Gureviewer: rachelklepadlo

Ease Of Booking :

Booked online about a week in advance with no issues.

Entrance Rating:

Lobby : Walking into the venue, we felt like we were walking into a medical office. There were a few chairs in the lobby, and a receptionist/glass partition wall typical of a doctor's office. If you are a large group, I would recommend meeting up elsewhere and entering at the same time- there isn't much space to sit/wait.

Hospitality : Escape Zone had a full candy bar of chocolates and candy! Talk about being kid friendly!
The restrooms were clean and located in the main part of the office building, outside of the venue.

Time Keeping
: Our game started a little early.

Briefing Details
: We were led into the escape room by an employee, and got to see the outside of the room painted like a stone castle. It was unexpected and set a positive tone for the experience. We were told something about finding/collecting stones in order to escape. Not really sure what to expect, the game begins.

Operator Intro
: Interesting

Operators :

Courteous, professional, and friendly.

The Game :

This is a game where the good puzzles and 'wow' moments were superseded by the lack of flow within the room. There needs to be additional puzzles added to the room, with greater direction given within the game.

The Venue :

Nice sized building, clean spaces, some cool set pieces. I would return to play other rooms from Escape Zone.

Main Room - First Glance :

OK

For five adults, the main room is tight. The first room is about 120 square feet, with combinations everywhere. Random wording and characters were written on the walls, and overall the room was pretty dark. We can see into the next room, where there is a cool fire drawn on a wall.

Flow :

Bad Flow

There are three distinct puzzle exchanges that occur within this game. Solve puzzle - enter code - move onto next step. These exchanges worked well, and made sense.
The remaining puzzles within the game, didn't have any flow or rhyme or reason to their order. In the beginning, it made us all work together to search for the (non-existent) flow. Towards the end of the game, it made our group begin to grasp at straws and word-mash.

Puzzles :

Some of them were great (matched promised level)

There is a final 'wow' factor puzzle in this game that is pretty cool. There are some unusual word puzzles throughout the game. The number of combination locks is overwhelming, and the lack of flow took away from some of the better puzzles found within the game.
Escape Zone officially has the best chess puzzle I've ever seen - it doesn't rely on outside knowledge, and it has a pleasant exchange/interaction.
I do have to credit Escape Zone for keeping post of the puzzles on theme, without being 'too Harry Potter' based for non-Harry Potter fans.

Hints & Clues
: Ask via walkie talkie

Policy: Some Rules

Hints & Clues
Quality: Ask and you shall receive

Quality: Good (things made sense)

Closure & Debrief :

Very Good

Our team of 5 escaped in about 38 minutes, where we were greeted by a very friendly GM and led to the lobby for photos to be taken.

Venue Description: Several businesses share the same parking lot, and there are a few buildings on the same lot. Escape Zone has signage in the back of one of the buildings, but upon closer look, you have to go around to the front entrance. Us, like silly people, didn't read the sign for 20 minutes, and thought the venue was closed.